[RE-wrenches] Canadian Solar / MC4 connectors in a marine environment

[August Goers]

Kirk,



It sounds like you might have a bonafide ground fault somewhere, possibly
at a location other than the module lead connections. I’ve seen current
leakage cause all kinds of strange corrosion problems. Maybe there is a
pinched or cracked module lead or homerun? It might even be possible that
the wire in the conduit going to the inverters has a minor ground fault
that gets compounded by moisture and low resistance up around the array.
Make sure the array equipment grounding is solid too. Keep us posted on
what you find!



Cheers,



August



*From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org] *On
Behalf Of *Kirk Herander
*Sent:* Tuesday, June 07, 2016 7:15 AM
*To:* 'RE-wrenches'
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Canadian Solar / MC4 connectors in a marine
environment



Hi,

For clarity, corrosion was found on various module interconnects between
panels, not where a string end mates to a field installed home-run
connector. So I would hope Canadian Solar would use identical connectors on
all their modules. They all certainly looked like MC4 connectors to me.



*Kirk Herander*

*Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC *

*Celebrating our 25th Anniversary 1991-2016*

*www.vermontsolarnow.com <www.vermontsolarnow.com>*

dba Vermont Solar Engineering

NABCEPTM  2003 Inaugural Certificant

VT RE Incentive Program Partner

802.863.1202







*From:* RE-wrenches [mailto:re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org
<re-wrenches-bounces at lists.re-wrenches.org>] *On Behalf Of *jay
*Sent:* Monday, June 06, 2016 11:15 PM
*To:* RE-wrenches
*Subject:* Re: [RE-wrenches] Canadian Solar / MC4 connectors in a marine
environment



Hi Kirk,

the connectors if done correctly are water tight.

There are few thoughts as to issues.



wrong sized gland nut

incorrectly tightened

if double jacketed wire, the outer layer could have come lose allowing
water in.

are they real MC-4?



debris during installation allowing damaged O rings



Can’t think of much else. but way to many of them out there for it to be a
OEM problem.



jay

peltz power

On Jun 6, 2016, at 2:28 PM, Kirk Herander <vtsolar at icloud.com> wrote:



Hello,



I am debugging a Florida ocean-side 35 kw array using 4 year old Canadian
Solar panels, which I’ve never had a high opinion of, installed by others.

I’ve discovered several not-so-good problems, such as low insulation
resistance through the panels, ONLY when raining, early to mid-morning
condensation, or by using the last resort of spraying the panels with a
garden house and watching the SMA inverters shut down due to failing their
self “Riso” (that’s the IRT) test creating a ground fault error.

That aside, what’s just as interesting is that about 8 or 9 of the module
interconnections were basically oozing the aqua-blue copper tarnish. I’ve
never seen this in any installation before. Either the MC4s weren’t crimped
and tightened at the factory well, or the connectors were seated poorly,
although that doesn’t seem to be the case. BTW, I replaced all these
dubious MC4 connectors and the ground faults still occur when the panels
are wet.

The bigger issue is the panel warranty, but is there anything on the market
which could seal these connections, perhaps a type of “clamshell” to
provide an extra layer of protection, which is removable if need be?
There’s always glue-filled heat shrink, but ideally I don’t want anything
permanent surrounding the connectors.

Has anyone ever seen what I’m describing in a marine environment?



*Kirk Herander*

*Owner|Principal, VT Solar, LLC *

*Celebrating our 25th Anniversary 1991-2016*

*www.vermontsolarnow.com <x-msg://361/www.vermontsolarnow.com>*

dba Vermont Solar Engineering

NABCEPTM  2003 Inaugural Certificant

VT RE Incentive Program Partner

802.863.1202





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